Women who go for it! - four success stories

WOMEN WHO GO FOR IT!

The secret of success? These four women knew it, and their dreams came true

NO ONE HAS EVER HANDED AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN ANYTHING. WHEN WE WALK UP TO THE PODIUM TO CLAIM A GOLD MEDAL, PULITZER PRIZE OR "BUSINESSWOMAN OF THE YEAR" PLAQUE, WE'VE EARNED IT. OUR MAMAS TAUGHT US THAT SUCCESS WAS POSSIBLE, BUT ONLY IF WE WERE WILLING TO PAY A PRICE. "HAFTA BE TWICE AS GOOD," OUR DADDIES REMINDED US. THE TRUTH IS WE COME FROM A LONG LINE OF WOMEN WHO HAVE JUMPED AT THE SUN AND SUCCEEDED. TONI MORRISON, FANNIE LOU HAMER, ANITA BAKER... BAAAD SISTERS JUST KEEP ON COMING. GOING FOR A GOAL AND REACHING IT DOESN'T TAKE WEALTH OR GENIUS; IT TAKES STEADY MOVEMENT ON YOUR PATH AND BELIEVING IN YOUR DREAM UNTIL IT BECOMES A REALITY. WINNING BIG ISN'T JUST LUCK--IT'S THE ABILITY TO DREAM, PLAN, CUT YOUR LOSSES AND PULL VICTORY FROM DEFEAT. HERE ARE FOUR WOMEN WHO HAVE AIMED HIGH, REACHED THEIR GOALS AND CLAIMED SUCCESS. ANNA PEREZ, 38, press secretary for First Lady Barbara Bush

Even after 24 years, Anna Perez is still haunted by a poignant seventh-grade memory. "I was walking home with a very cute, popular girl from school. All of a sudden I looked up and saw the furniture from our house sitting on the pavement two blocks away and realize that my family had been evicted. The blood started draining from my face. I was in real pain. Somehow I steered my friend away from my house, and then I went to the library and stayed for hours."

As press secretary for First Lady Barbara Bush, the first African-American to hold such a position, Perez is a long way from the devastated little girl whose family was put on the street. And yet the seeds of her achievement were sowed as she watched her mother succeed in putting her children's lives back together. "My mother taught me always to expect the best," she says.

Perez, who is married and the mother of two children and a stepchild, was working as a press secretary for Congressman John Miller, a Republican from Seattle, when she began planning strategies to gain the position with Barbara Bush. The first person she went to was her boss, who gave his blessing and personally called Mrs. Bush and asked that she consider Perez for the position. Then Perez began her own networking. "I knew I had to get people to notice me," she says. Perez asked every prominent Republican and some Democrats she knew to write to the First Lady and recommend her for the job.

Before her initial interview, she learned as much as she could about Mrs. Bush and talked herself out of her insecurities. Although Perez doesn't have a college degree, she told herself, I'm really good at what I do, and reminded herself that her sense of humor, fearlessness and ability to work very hard, as well as the fact that she had no self-imposed limits, were strengths that far outweighed her liabilities.

Perez describes her job as "to efficiently and unobtrusively help Mrs. Bush help people." She is the principal contact for the host of reporters seeking interviews with the First Lady. She spends 65 percent of her 12-hour day on the telephone arranging press interviews. The rest of the time she plans the First Lady's schedule.

The high point of Perez's tenure so far has been her trip to China with the President and the First Lady. "I remember driving down a street in Beijing in the presidential motorcade and then later that evening walking into the Great Hall of the People for a banquet. The whole thing was so wonderful. I felt like, Is this me?"

But if Perez is occasionally overwhelmed by pomp and circumstance, she is also sure of her role. She says. "Coming into the White House every day, I realize I'm supposed to be here." TERRI FISHER WEEKLEY, 40, one of the first African-American women to hold a controlling interest in a franchise hotel

If you ask Terri Fisher Weekley what she has going for herself, she'll tell you forthrightly, "I dare to dream." And Weekley dreams big. She is one of the few Black women to have majority ownership in a major franchise hotel.

Weekley's quest for independence through entrepreneurship came gradually. After graduation from college with a degree in business, Weekley, who is divorced, worked in several administrative positions before founding Weekley and Associates in 1972, a company that specializes in personnel as well as business development. After assisting other African-Americans in the purchase of Kentucky Fried Chicken and Burger King franchises as well as yogurt companies, she decided to take the plunge into business ownership herself. She opened Weekley Enterprises in 1986.

Weekley knew that the airport in Grand Rapids, the second largest city in Michigan, had no Black or Hispanic-owned businesses and that the hotel located at the airport had little name recognition. She sensed an opportunity. "I met with members of the aeronautics board, and one of them happened to be a county commissioner who knew of me because of my community activities," Weekley recalls. "I told her I was interested in owning a business at the airport." After a series of meetings, Host International, a subsidiary of Marriott and owner of the airport hotel, agreed to divest their interests to provide an opportunity for an African-American businessperson. It became Weekley's responsibility and challenge to find a national franchise hotel for the location.

Weekley did her homework thoroughly. "I went to the library and read everything I could about the hotel business. I talked with other Black people in the industry and with professors at Georgia State and Michigan State universities, where they offer degrees in hotel and restaurant management."

Then Weekley researched various hotel franchises so that she could narrow her choice. "I discovered that Days Inn was the fastest-growing franchise in the limited nonluxury range," Weekley says. It took her six months to research and negotiate for a franchise license, and a year to negotiate a lease for the airport facility and get FAA approval.

Weekley's facility still doesn't have a restaurant and lounge. But she expects that ground will be broken for a restaurant, lounge and conference meeting rooms this fall. Finding the one and a half million dollars to build that addition is Weekley's current challenge. "For now, I silence the nagging worries with a good strong proposal and prayer," she says. DENISE GARY ROBINSON, 35, president and founder, Black Health Research Foundation

As a child Denise Gary Robinson vividly remembers her father working two full-time jobs in order to give his family a good life. "From watching my dad, I learned that success comes from determination," says Robinson. Besides her father, her other important influences include Elijah Muhammad and Harriet Tubman, who she says both believed in doing for self.

Robinson inherited her father's strong will and his dream for a better life. She is the founder and president of the Black Health Research Foundation, a New York-based voluntary health agency organized in 1988. Robinson, who is married and a mother of two, has a goal: a healthier future for all African-Americans. Her organization plans to accomplish this mission through funding research and disseminating information pertinent to the health needs of the Black community.

While working as the state director of communications and public policy at a major national health-related organization, Robinson began to realize that Black health concerns weren't a priority for many predominantly white organizations.

"I worked at this organization for two and a half years. I came up with a proposal to do a series of workshops in Black communities on hypertension. My bosses thought the idea was brilliant. But when I told them it would cost about $7,000 to put on one workshop, they told me to get a corporation to put up the money. They had raised $11 million that year. I said to myself, This is crazy. Why do we have to beg? Let's start our own organization."

She resigned and began putting together the Black Health Research Foundation. Her husband, Robert, who owns a computer company, offered Robinson initial start-up funds, and many prominent Black physicians offered their support.

Robinson admits that initially she lacked some of the skills necessary to organize the foundation. She made some mistakes, but she didn't let that stop her. "I hired consultants to teach me skills I needed in three or four days. I believe if you don't know how to do something, don't botch it up. Get someone to help."

After pulling together a prestigious board of directors, Robinson saw her authority undermined by her own inexperience. "At the first board meeting I was terrible. I realized just how bad I was when a doctor asked me to take notes for him. Here I had founded the organization and recruited everyone present, and yet I was being viewed as a secretary. I knew I had to be projecting the wrong attitude."

Robinson hired an image consultant who critiqued her wardrobe, speech patterns and overall presentation. The consultant informed her that by telling her board members to "just call me Denise," she had immediately put everyone in the room one level above her. "What I had to do to regain authority was to begin calling everyone on my board by their first names," recounts Robinson. Subsequent board meetings have gone more smoothly.

Robinson believes that making mistakes and learning from them are part of fulfilling her goal. "In five years we want to be pouring $20 million into research and scholarships," she says. There is one African-American doctor for about every 1,994 Black patients in the nation. Robinson continues, "The need for our organization is way overdue." WESTINA MATTHEWS, 40, founder of Merrill Lynch's ScholarshipBuilder

For Westina Matthews, the taste of defeat came early. In third grade she lost the class presidency by one vote, the vote she cast for her opponent. "I didn't vote for myself, because I thought to be a nice person I had to vote for the other guy," she says with a chuckle. "Since then I've always believed in and voted for me first." Now as the vice-president and manager of corporate contributions and community affairs for Merrill Lynch and Co., Inc., Westina Matthews is voting for the future of our children.

Matthews convinced her corporation to set up a fund for 250 first-graders attending school in economically depressed areas. The program, called ScholarshipBuilder, provides educational counseling and coordinates parent and teacher efforts. It will eventually pay for the youngsters' college educations or vocational training, or will grant them a stipend if they land a job after high school.

According to Matthews, the challenge of initiating ScholarshipBuilder wasn't convincing Merrill Lynch to back the program, but simply doing the enormous amount of work needed to get the program off the ground. "It all seemed to rest on me," she says.

The Westina Matthews who presented Merrill Lynch with the proposal that may ultimately change the lives of hundreds of children is a composed, well-dressed, articulate woman who has established professional networks all over the country. Matthews, a divorcee who has a Ph.D. in education and has worked with philanthropic organizations, readily admits her strengths, but she is quick to note that her self-assurance didn't come without a struggle.

"I haven't always had the polishing I needed," she confesses. "I remember not knowing which silverware to use for what; I asked a man at my church who worked as a waiter to set up a table for me and teach me which utensils to use. I wanted to dress well, so I asked my great aunt, an elegant woman whom I admired, to do me over. I'm not afraid to ask for help. I've learned to be a networker."

She credits her spiritual beliefs with enabling her to see her dream bear fruit. "When I was working on ScholarshipBuilder, I stopped in a church to pray every day on my way to work, and I still do. My belief in God has served me well."

PHOTO : Anna Perez, press secretary for First Lady Barbara Bush

PHOTO : Terri Fisher Weekley, entrepreneur with a controlling interest in a Days Inn hotel

PHOTO : Westina Matthews, vice-president of Merrill Lynch and founder of the company's scholarship

PHOTO : program

PHOTO : Denise Gary Robinson, president and founder of the Black Health Research Foundation

Bebe Moore Campbell is an ESSENCE contributing editor.

COPYRIGHT 1989 Essence Communications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group